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Since this year‘s parade is tied directly with children, the com- mittee is hoping that all schools in Richmond Hill will make an extra special effort to enter their floats. Last year, only three schools out of 15 participated. But, based on its theme This year will be the third consecutive season for the parade, a tribute to a hard working com- mittee that begins its planning and preparations when the rest of us are out water-skiing. But the committee is still facing a recurring problem. How do you get the children involved in the parade? The skeptics said it was a waste of time, and even if it suc- ceeded through one year, it could never run two in a row. In terins of children, it’s been so-so. Two years ago, when the parade was revived after being very near death, a group of people worked long and hard to bring a parade to Richmond Hill that would delight everyone. For the last couple of years, the Richmond Hill Santa Claus Parade has been, in terms of participants and spectators, a resounding success. Children are needed for annual parade Because this new wall reduces lighting in the pool area the number of lights has been inâ€"‘f‘ creased from 15 to 36, BUT this will still result in a saving because metal-halide bulbs are in use rather than incandescent bulbs. Five sliding glass windows on the south side of the pool area have been closed off to avoid heat loss. In my last column I recalled some memories of a field threshing from my childhood. but from harvest until bad weather there were not enough days to accomplish all the threshing of wheat. oats. barley, buckwheat. etc. that had been garnered that season. In fact threshing went on until and after winter had really set in. or if he preferred a barn threshing then the sheaves of grain had to be transferred to the grain mow in the barn‘. I spent the summer of 1919 on my Uncle Willie's farm in (‘aradoc Township and he was a barn thresher. Since it was an early crop year. the last week of July we transferred the heavy wheat crop to the barn. l was delegated to help my l4-yearold male cousin on the wagon. primarily to' keep me out from underfoot. I think. and l did‘drive the team from stock to stock. although they would probably have made the short trip and the stop without any help from If the farmer had not made his reservation in time for a fieldthreshing The same type of flat bed farm wagon with high wooden racks was used but additional equipment was needed in the shape of slings of several strands of rope held in place and apart by slats Steve Pe‘ any unauthorized use is prohibited $26.00 ‘pe delivery Registrar Ron Walla‘ Fved Simn‘ Editorial, Display Classified Circulation Toronto customers PUBLISHER JOHN C. FERGUS PAGE A4 a! Me1 Libéral VOLUME 102. NUMBER M TELEPHONES ion » Spins ggito stein ~ News Edit n taxes. I year our weeks. Sw Numbet 0190 )olh edime and advertising 0' The rd Hi_ll areglpmqed by copyright and By mail $13.00 pet year in Canada {side of Canada. By came: $1.00 iingIe copy sales 25 cents No mail 2! service exists Second Clas Mail Lib’éral ‘ YESTERDAYS of wood. which stretched from one end of the wagon to the other. The team was unhit- ched and stationed at the head of the gangway. Then one sling at a time was attached to a con- traption and the team pulling a long rope at- tached to this was driven down the sloping drive, hoisting the sling with its load 10 the main beam of the barn and across that main beam until it was over the grain mow. On these, layer after layer. the load was built carefully to eliminate any danger of the wagon tipping as the team of horses drew it from the field to the barn and up the earthen gangway to the threshing floor. There one end of the sling was released and the sheaves tumbled down. the sling being retrieved as the little trolley returned it to the wagon and both ends of another sling were at- tached. In the meantime the team had been returned to the top of the gangway. This procedure was repeated over a period of two days until the whole crop was in the mow. The wagon, slings and horses had already been used before I arrived on the farm to fill the hay mow on the other side of the threshing floor with enough hay to feed the stock during the winter 884-81 77 884-1 105 884-0981 881 3372 By MARY DAWSON by Melrospan Community Newspapers. a. division :h also publishes The Banner in Aurora-Nawmarket, “Christmas is for Children", which brings the Year of the Child into play, the committee is optimistic that most schools in Richmond Hill will participate. Trophies will be awarded for the best Elementary School float and the best Secondary School float. That competition should arouse students in The Hill. Other tr0phies to be awarded include: best Commercial float; best Non-Commercial float; best Theme float; best Majorettes; and the Mayor’s Trophy. That means a brilliant school float could scoop up to three trophies. iMeanwhile, children who are over 11 years of age can get in- volved in the parade as clowns. The committee says it needs 200 of them. The clowns will be busy entertaining the crowds and handing out goodies along the parade route. If you‘re a youngster in- terested in any of this, or a teacher who wants a class to build the best float in the world, call Frank Gallant at 884-7005, or Doug Hin- chcliffe at 884-3990 for further information. They’ll be delighted to hear from you. Lighting in the dressing rooms and foyers has also been changed, this time from incandescent to fluorescent, another promised saving of about 20 per cent, said Mr. Pirie. ‘This is a trend in lighting for pools,’ said John Pirie, aquatic supervisor for the town, ‘and should save us about 20 per cent.’ Wednesday, October 3, 1979 Metrospan Community Newspapers publishes The Richmond HillI'Thomhill Liberal, The Banner. The OakvilIe Journal Record. The Hallon Consumer. The Missixauga Tunes, The Etobiooke Advertiserrcwdian, The Embiooke Consumer. The North York Mirror, The North York The Woodbridge 6' Vaughan News and The Bolton Enterprise. John C_ Fetgus, Publisher Ray Padlev Jv. Advertising Directov Norman Stunden - Production Ma Den-s O'Meara - Circulation Directov Rose Reynolds ~ Accounts METROSPAN « NORTH DIVISION When the threshing outfit arrived in late fall. the threshing machine would be set up on the threshing floor with the long metal pipe extending out over the barnyard where the stack of straw would be blown. months This was used for bedding the animals during the winter. Sometimes when the cattle were let out during the winter for exercise they would nibble at the straw until by spring the stack Would resemble a huge yellow mushroom crowned with a couple of feet of snow. When threshing lime came the steam engine would be located at the foot of the gangway with the long leather belt extending from there to the machine. As much distance as possible fromrlhe {ram As much distance as possible from the frame building was essential because of the danger of a spark from the engine's smoke stack igniting the straw or the dust in the barn which could be very heavy if the grain was infected with rust or smut. EDITOR RON WALUICE In a barn ihreshing the grain usually was deposited in wheel barrows which were wheeled away directly into the granary. usually accessible from the threshing floor. 4 fl [ASSO‘J’ ibcfiNA 4 .‘L You could see the pained look on their faces when I said that the teachers had been locked out; although we had discussed what might happen prior to the meeting and they were aw_a_re of the pros and cons. Although students are elated when the last day of school arrives and complain a lot as Labor Day approaches, for'most of them it’s just being one of the crowd. These signs just added insult to injurylto the thousands of secondary school students in York County because they didn’t know if and when they were going back to school. It may have been a mixed blessing for those lucky vacationers who had no idea what was happening. Unfortunately I was around town; my children were aware as were some of their friends. You could tell by the frequent phone calls asking if we had heard anything new. When I arrived home from that fateful York County Board meeting at which the board voted to lock out the teachers, my daughters met me at the door. They would 'have been pleased if I could have just said “everything’s been settled and you can go back to school on Tuesday.” It’s back to school time. That’s what the signs told us in book stores, and departme t stores, signalling the end of summer vacatidxrli. One of my daughters was wondering if she would ever get to high school. All through Grade 8 she had been looking forward to her first day and now all she could do was read the paper and listen to the news reports on the radio. For once there was a lot of news about York County. ANXIOUS The other one, who is in Grade 11, was anxious to return to the friends, teachers and activities she had missed during the summer. They still trooped off to Coles and Grand and ,Toy to purchase their school supplies along with all the other students “just in case" and were planning what to wear the first day of school “just in case". The Labor Day weekend to me is a blur of the Jerry Lewis Telethon, listening to radio reports of Hurricane David (That was before Frederick) and news about York County. I often complain that the news media in Metro never reports anything about York County but after that weekend it was beginning to be a bore. It was decided school lunches would be made in the morning since it was well on into the evening and there was no word. The phones kept ringing, neighbors and friends wondering what the decision would be . . . and finally via telephone we heard the wonderful news; there would be school the next day. We all made a bee-line for our TV set and turned on channel 10 and there was the confirmation on the screen. School was on and everything seemed normal until the girls arrived home. Even then everything seemed normal. No, they didn‘t get all their required text books, attendance wasn’t taken in all classes but in some first names were asked. As I was listening to a radio report that said homework was not given out my daughters had been spending the past hour doing theirs. The problem was that not all schools had this near normalcy and the parents could only judge by what happened at their children‘s schools. MEETING That evening I got word that a hastily By DOREEN LIVINGSTONE Liberal Correspondent So long, old friend SPRINKLINGS LIBERAL Indeed a neighbor" had heard part of it on the 7 ‘a".m. news and phoned me‘ in disbelief to find out if it was true. arranged meeting had been called so I was not as shocked as perhaps others were when they awoke the next morning to hear the schools had been closed. On my part I phoned around to others, some who had heard the news late the night before and others who were in the midst of sending their kids off to school. One trustee hopped in a car and alerted all the students in the area who were waiting at school bus stops. And darn it, there sat those school lunches. Strikes and lock-outs became familiar words in our daily conversation. When asked to do something one of my daughters laughineg said she had decided to “work to rule” at which point my husband snapped back “then I guess we‘ll have to lock you out”. Out of every sad tale comes a humorous incident. At one school a male student was surprised to find out his gym teacher was female and even more surprised that he was in an all female gym class. When he complained about this he was told that someone else in his position would have been delighted. They say sometimes a little humor helps relieve the tension and we needed it that week. ROUTINE? By Thursday night of the “first week of school” we were once again listening to the radio and watching cable TV but at this point I can‘t remember exactly when we heard the news of ratification; the important thing was that we heard it. I can’t even remember if the lunches were made that night or the next morning but the kids finally went to school with their books and their lunches and this procedure has been repeated every school day since. Who says routine is boring? Ron Wallace. The Liberal I so enjoyed the description of your dif- ficulties in crossing and return crossing the 4ch parallel (Liberal Sprinklings, September 26). But. Ron, where you bin this past 10 years? You're just not with it. Why don‘t you get your cheekbones flattened, your eyes slanted. and maybe lose about 60 pounds (or make that kilograms if it makes sense). Dear Ron. A dose of TB and in- fectious hepatitis. with a dash of poverty won’t hurt either. Alternatively you might black your face, in which case you can skip the weight reduction Gét pregnant, too. I don‘t care how. ‘ A simple method to cross border You will then have all the necessary points to be showered with the sweet blessings of holy Canadian humanitari- anism. Shakespearian English. buckets of spending money, and the keys to your new home. (Mind you don‘t sink too deep in the red carpet, so cutting off your mumbled thanks ( (optional) ). Ron (Atkey) and Flora (Macdonald) will be on the welcoming mat, backed up by language teachers expert in argots, Joe Clark will greet you in the language of your choice (please state) and conclude with a brief blessing in the religious style of (again) your choice. You will then be ready to become a true Canadian, which is â€" well. I just can‘t think 3 By BOB RICE As October starts to hurry by. there seems to be a reluctance in the human animal to succumb to the intrusion of winter without Some kind of fight; As a result we try to find things to do to fill the Autumn hours and squeeze every last second of daylight into some form of activity so that winter's dark days are more acceptable. Thornton Bales Conservation Area is located on the Mulock Sideroad just west of Bathurst Street about two and a half miles due west of Newmarket. There is one sahcluary not far fro-m Richmond Hill and I would like to share this place with your You may have been to other conservation areas before but I doubt if they can match the rugged beauty and gentle tranqgility of this ope. You see. dear reader . . . to be able to enjoy the Bales refuge, you must descend some 94 (others claim 97) dirt and wood steps to the floor of a gully that was ripped open during the retreat of the glaciers. Once down the steep incline you can follow some of the paths made by your predecessors or strike out on your own towards whoâ€"knows- where. The carpet on which you walk is soft and comfortable. having been made from the deceased trees and plants of the valley in the unending cycle of life. At this time of year you may come across a giant puffball or several species of mushrooms as the unique fungi make their last bid for life prior to the coming of the first snowfall. what it is for the moment â€" I've heard it’s a member of a huddle in a muddle â€" but I‘ll write you later when (if) it comes to me. Thornton Bales is also a great place for the children. Our two girls never get bored with visiting the area and each trip provides new fun for them as well as healthy exercise. You'll be able to go where you like, when you like, in North America; maybe carry your own little switchblade, hat- chet. or machete with you My oldest collects acorns and has found a new hobby by transforming the nuts into little dolls with the aid of some glue, material and imagination. Our youngest daughter enjoys the freedom to explore and acquires a new walking stick on each trip to Bales in addition to a growing leaf collection. It is the seclusion. however, that continually attracts us to this small gash in the earth. To be sure your reverie can be interrupted by the sound of jet engines flying high above the forest canopy, but . . all in all . . it provides a few relaxing hours away from telephones, television and those other modern conveniences that make up much of our lives. Should you decide to drop by this unique place Iwould like to give you three tips. . .first . .try to get there before midafternoon since it is becoming quite popular with the new residents of the north end of The Region; second . . don’t bother hauling a big picnic hamper down onto the floor of the valley (there are picnic tables up at the entrance level); and . . most importantly . . take your time when walking through the area because when you are ready to go home . . you still have to go back UP those 94 steps . . puff puff! ‘ The 01’ Millpond Philosopher once said rose by any other name is still a rose . . ‘ skunk is also a skunk!" The 94 steps to tranquility More letters in case some stuffy local law or law enforcement officers gets in your road. Any time you swing your hatchet. always remember to holler “Racist”. Loudly. get crackin’, Ron Sid Britton. 84 Hillview Road Aurora and a